LU's new president brings global view to university

Dan Wallac, Beaumont Enterprise

By Dan Wallach

Published 11:21 am, Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Lamar's new president Kenneth Evans discusses his upbringing, former collegiate jobs and hopes for Lamar in his office on Wednesday.
Photo taken Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Lamar's new president Kenneth Evans discusses his upbringing,...

Recently moving into Lamar's president's office, Kenneth Evans stands next to his globe that he says represents the work he has put in at previous schools to improve study abroad project.
Photo taken Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Guiseppe Barranco/The Enterprise
Photo: Guiseppe Barranco, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

In both activities, the moves must be almost second nature. If you overthink the motions, the ground could reach out and hit you.

Knowing how to do these things - maintaining balance on a bike or flowing smoothly through a rumba - is what social scientists call "tacit knowledge." It is hard to articulate or to pass along to others in a lecture, for example, as opposed to "explicit knowledge," which can be easily taught.

Evans, 63, formerly dean of the Price School of Business at the University of Oklahoma, spent a good deal of his academic career as a marketing professor. He has covered a topic called "boundary spanning," which describesthe interaction between the tacit - the know-how - and the explicit - the know-what.

Bridging the span between the two is the creation of new knowledge. It's one of the reasons Evans is Lamar's new president, with the emphasis on "new."

LU's place in the world

The moving van had just pulled up last week to the Evanses' new residence, the president's house, on Lamar's campus.

"It will be nice to be settled in," Evans said. "After you've been in a hotel for a time, you cannot wait to get out."

His office in the Plummer Building also shows he's only been in it for a few days, but it's got one personal touch that means a lot to Evans. It's his globe, a reminder of his efforts to help students at Oklahoma - and before that at the University of Missouri - study abroad.

"The globe is more than decorative," he said. "It's a statement. Whether students from Lamar stay here, they will be affected by the global marketplace."

How did Evans and Lamar come into contact?

He said a search company reached out to him and that he knew people in leadership positions in the Texas State University System, who asked if he'd like to be considered for a nomination.

He said he became interested in Lamar because the campus and the institution itself are in such good shape.

"There could have been a legacy of turmoil or problems in direction or leadership that could have distanced faculty and staff. It's not necessarily a given," he said.

Instead, Evans sees a university with strong support on campus and in its community.

"That's a testament to the legacy of Jimmy and Susan Simmons," he said.

Understanding LU strengths

Simmons formally retired on June 30 as university president after 14 years. He took with him the piano from the office where Evans' globe now sits.

"Nancy plays piano," Evans said, sipping coffee from an LU mug. "My younger son, Brian, graduated from the Berklee School of Music in Boston. He was a trombonist and is working toward his master's in electrical engineering. My older son, Paul, was an oboist and is a corporate litigator."

"I listen to them," he said.

Evans said he once played "bass fiddle" in junior high.

He also is the first of his family to attend college, something his parents never got to do.

It helps him understand students whose parents didn't have the benefit of a college experience and are stepping into a competitive environment for perhaps the first time.

This is an area where Lamar has strengths compared to major universities such as the University of Texas or Texas A&M, he said.

"The instructor stood on stage and told us to look to our right and then to our left. He said the person on our right might not be here next quarter. The person on our left might not be here the quarter after that," he said.

That's an attrition rate of about two-thirds, he said.

"We can provide the intimacy of the learning experience here at Lamar," he said.

A destination campus

Evans said he is highly interested in pursuing commercial retail development close to campus to serve students and to draw people to Lamar as well.

"We want to create vitality and make it a destination for students and the larger community," he said. "That's very much on my list."

Evans acknowledged there is uncertainty facing students as they figure out how to pay for their education, including potentially rising interest rates for student loans.

"It makes it tougher," he said of higher rates. "I'm a big advocate for investing in your future. Do you buy down (federal) debt (with higher rates for student loans) or invest in education for our country's needs? It's a trade-off. It's tough for students to afford tuition and fees. We try to make it as affordable as possible."

With two weeks on the job - Evans describes his work ethic as "24/7" - he is settling in by scheduling meetings with all of the academic departments. He is joining the kinds of community organizations a university president is expected to join, like the Rotary Club.

He also is inquiring about places to ride his bicycle. He's seen some places that look awfully tempting.